SEA Games 2017: First gold medal for Vietnamese pencak silat

NDO – Pham Thi Tuoi secured the first gold medal for the Vietnamese Pencak Silat team at the ongoing 29th SEA Games, after easily overcoming her Singaporean opponent, Atiq Syazwani Binte Roslan, with a score of 5-0 in the women’s 45-50kg final match this morning (August 29).

On the second last day of competition, the Pencak Silat fighters are expected to create a “gold medal storm” for Vietnam as they will participate in nine final clashes, in both the demonstration and combat categories.

However, alongside the exceptional performance by Pham Thi Tuoi, other Vietnamese representatives, including Nguyen Dinh Tuan and Tran Thi Them, could not overcome their opponents in their final matches and had to both settle for two silver medals.

Dinh Tuan lost 0-5 to Malaysia’s Faizul Nasir, in the men’s 50-55kg discipline, while Tran Thi Them fell to a 1-4 defeat at the hands of the strong Indonesian competitor, Wewey Wita, in the women’s 50-55kg final.

With regards to the mixed doubles 3m diving event, Vietnamese pair Anh Duy and Mai Phuong completed their performance with 234.45 points, thereby securing a bronze medal, considered a surprise as diving is not a favoured sport of the Vietnam contingent.

Pham Tuan Anh failed to win a third gold medal for Vietnam’s weightlifting team after only managing to take a bronze in the men’s 69kg weight category with a total lift of 306kg, six kilograms fewer than the Indonesian champion, Deni, and four kilograms behind the Thai silver medalist, Trirat Boonsuk.

As of 11.30am today, Vietnam still stood firmly in third place on the medal table with 56 gold medals, behind Malaysia with 112 golds and Thailand with 59 golds.